The Planes
The planes are a series of dimensions, separated by Auron during the creation of the universe. The Astral Plane The Astral Plane is a realm of pure thought, it is the realm minds from the material plane wander into when they are dreaming and it takes much of what little form it has from these dreams. The plane appears as a great and colourful twilight sky, studded with unreachable stars, winds blow across the plane with the sounds of thousands of whispering minds. The only feature of this colourful void are the occasional drifting fragments of dreamworlds. Nothing can age or die in the Astral Plane. Psychic effects and communication rely on the Astral Plane to function as all the minds in reality are connected to it. The Astral plane borders the Earth, Water, Positive Energy and Material planes and The Shadow. The Elemental Planes The four elemental planes each had portions of their territory cut from them by Aurons lines to form the Material Plane and so although theoretically they each border the Material Plane this border is simply appears as an endless black void which when approached is an unbreakable invisible wall. Air The plane of Air is a realm of fearsome and chaotic winds and clouds, increasing in density as you reach the centre known as the Maelstrom, a terrifying storm the size of a continent that seems almost intelligent in its effectiveness at rending any whole creature or object to shreds. Out towards the edges of the plane the winds and clouds are sparser until they merge into the grey formless mists of the Ethereal Plane. The native denizens of the plane need no ground to stand upon but those without such abilities who find themselves in the Plane of Air can stand upon the supernaturally dense clouds that drift through the skies. Fire The plane of Fire is one of the most inhospitable and brutal places in the universe, comprised of three vast sections. The Inferno is the core of the plane, a gigantic ball of fire, so bright that it hurts to look upon from even the edges of the plane and any closer can cause the viewers eyes to burst into flames. From the Inferno pours a gigantic column of smoke up to the "ceiling" of the plane, spreading out and round to the edges of the plane where it merges with the grey mists of the Ethereal Plane and dissipates, this sea of smoke is known as The Choking, and shade from its great black clouds of smoke are the only respite from the heat of The Inferno. Beneath The Inferno lies the only part of the plane which ever offers solid ground, The Fuel, an endless conveyor belt of creations Auron considers failures rolling towards the final destruction of The Inferno, portions of dying worlds, stitched patchwork together, all turning molten as they approach the Inferno. Earth The plane of earth is a tremendous earthen sphere, honeycombed with an elaborate geometric pattern of caverns. At the core of the sphere is a great inescapable mud pit, as one travels out to the edges of the sphere the earth becomes firmer from soil to rock, until eventually at the outer edge the border with the Astral Plane transforms the entire outer layer of the plane into beautiful and iridescent and unbreakable crystals. Although the crystals are unbreakable, and the shell they form around the plane total, one can still travel across this border, the dream like reality of the Astral Plane allows one to simply walk through a facet in the crystals and out into the Astral Plane. Water The plane of water is a vast hollow spherical ocean surrounding a sphere of air. The closer one gets to the center the more powerful and unpredictable the currents become until at the "Eye" of the plane they are furious and violent tides, waves the sizes of mountains that suddenly appear in the midst of calm seas thousands of miles wide. Outward into the depths of the plane the inhabitants of the ocean become increasingly aberrant and strange as they become closer to the borders of the Astral Plane, the leagues between the surface of the eye and the black depths that flow out into the astral plane are said to contain every sea monster a beleaguered sailor has ever seen or thought he saw. The Ethereal Plane The Ethereal Plane appears as per the DMG. Souls travelling to the Labyrinth after death do so through the Ethereal Plane, although there is no way to escape the pull of the Labyrinth souls that have particularly powerful desire to continue living can exert such force against it that they leave twisted fragments of their soul in the Ethereal Plane, known as ghosts. Leaving ghosts in the Ethereal plane causes a soul trapped in the Labyrinth incapable of acting or descending the Labyrinth, caught among the horrors of the highest level of the Labyrinth until their ghost is returned to them. The Ethereal plane borders the Air, Fire and Material planes and The Labyrinth. Where the Ethereal Plane borders the Labyrinth an unbreakable stone brick wall appears, whereas normally distance is meaningless in the Ethereal Plane, attempting to travel from one end of the border to the other always takes a millennia at normal walking speed. The Godsgrave Whenever a god is killed during their constant disputes and battles their divine corpse bleeds out into the Material plane, altering it. Over the aeons of battle so many gods have died and divine essences bled and pooled and mixed in the Material Plane that certain areas are consumed with the Fey, a chaotic and magical force. The deepest and most potent areas of the Fey coalesced into gates to another world known as the Godsgrave, a world of complete chaos and incredible sights, it is also the only place where remnants and relics of the faiths and powers of long dead gods can be found, rare islands of stability gliding through the madness. The Labyrinth See:The Labyrinth The Material Plane The Material plane comprises the world of Varuna and the stars beyond. It borders the Astral, Elemental and Ethereal Planes and is the only plane to border The Godsgrave. The Negative Energy Plane An endless abyss of complete death and annihilation. It borders the Ethereal Plane and The Labyrinth. The Positive Energy Plane An endless of font of life and creation. It borders the Astral Plane and The Shadow. The Shadow Much as the Astral plane is made of thoughts and dreams The Shadow houses the nightmares and repressed thoughts of every being in the universe. For most it is a realm of absolute horror, a horror often tailor made to a visitor by their own mind. The Shadow appears as a vast realm of ruined and fallen cities, the sky a uniform black, the clearest landmark is the vast Keep of Death where Saumthalla resides, the only light in the city the endless fires of the Positive Energy plane almost completely eclipsed by the vast keep, where the shadow of the Keep ends so the plane of The Shadow ends. Although the city is ruined it is not a lifeless or abandoned place in fact it teems with vast variation of strange life that is at once alluring and repulsive, the most powerful of these lifeforms are The Shadow Depravations, near godlike entities comprised of coalesced thought.Category:Cosmology